"This is a loss for the whole community," Gloversville Mayor Dayton King said. "He made friends easy. People knew who he was and looked up to him."

Edwards, who spent most of his adult life with the fire department, King said, stepped down as chief in 2010 after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Speaking last year to the Gloversville Leader-Herald about his diagnosis, Edwards told the newspaper, "I have no choice with this thing, so I look at every day as a great day. Some days are hard, but I still think every day is great. When my doctors said I have a one in a thousand chance to make it past five years, I took that as I still have a chance because I don't have any other option."